Vigil-Giron and other defendants each face 50 counts in indictments issued today by grand jury
Former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and the others indicted today by a state grand jury each face 50 counts including money laundering, fraud, soliciting or receiving kickbacks and tax evasion in the alleged theft of millions of dollars.
The others indicted are lobbyists Joseph Kupfer and Elizabeth Kupfer and Armando Gutierrez, who headed the company Vigil-Giron hired to help the state implement a federal voter education program.
Joseph Kupfer was a lobbyist for the secretary of state. Elizabeth Kupfer, his wife, was the administrative services director for the Attorney General’s Office at the time in question.
The 50 counts against each include:
• Four counts of fraud over $20,000 or, in the alternative, embezzlement over $20,000.
• 11 counts of money laundering over $100,000.
• Five counts of money laundering over $20,000.
• Eight counts of tax fraud.
• 13 counts of tax evasion.
• Four counts of making or permitting false public vouchers.
• One count of soliciting or receiving an illegal kickback.
• One count of offering or paying an illegal kickback.
• Two counts of tampering with evidence.
• One count of conspiracy.
You can read the indictment against Vigil-Giron by clicking here. The others aren’t yet online, but are similar.
Vigil-Giron has not returned a call seeking comment. Attorneys for Vigil-Giron and Gutierrez had little to say to the New Mexico Independent. Elizabeth Kupfer did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The details
The AG’s investigation came after a federal audit found severe mismanagement of federal Help America Vote Act funds by Vigil-Giron’s administration during the 2006 election cycle. Vigil-Giron, who left office at the end of 2006 because of term limits, says the audit is flawed and has repeatedly insisted that no wrongdoing occurred on her watch.
Vigil-Giron used federal funds to pay Gutierrez’s firm $6.3 million for advertising and voter education work leading up to the 2006 election. The federal audit found that the company can’t account for how more than $2 million of that money was spent.
The indictments allege a wide-ranging scheme that’s in some ways similar to the metro court scandal. For example, according to the indictments, a $2 million voucher from the state treasury was deposited in the account of Gutierrez between Sept. 29 and Oct. 5, 2004. That voucher was based on a false invoice, the indictment states.
Then, between Oct. 1 and Oct. 7, 2004, a $140,000 check from Gutierrez was deposited in the account of the Kupfers. Similar transactions occurred several times between 2004 and 2006, according to the indictment.
Interestingly, while Vigil-Giron is charged with soliciting or receiving an illegal kickback and offering or paying an illegal kickback just like the others, the indictments don’t state that she profited financially from the scheme. The only bank transactions listed involve Gutierrez and the Kupfers.